I am attaching my additional arguments for my complaint
against Mayor Donald Atchison, Councillor Randy Donauer, and the City of
Saskatoon.
Ashu M. G. Solo
Additional Arguments for
Civil Rights Complaint of Ashu M. G. Solo against
Mayor Don Atchison,
Councillor Randy Donauer, and City of Saskatoon
By Ashu M. G. Solo
It's my position and the position of the Canadian Civil
Liberties Association that freedom of conscience in section 2a of the Charter
of Rights and Freedoms includes freedom from religion, that the Charter forbids
attempts to coerce, limit, or otherwise influence the choice of religious
observance, and that section 27 of the Charter on multiculturalism forbids
conferring special privileges or benefits on any particular religion.
Separation of religion and government means government can't
interfere with freedom to practice religion, but also means government can't
promote any religion. This is to protect people of all religions
including Christians. Separation of religion and government is a
fundamental aspect of freedom of religion.
When Don Atchison and Randy Donauer have Christian prayer
recitations at civic events, it sends the message that there is a priority
given to Christian values, it sends the message that Christians are more valued
or welcome than others while marginalizing others, it sends the message that a
citizen is second class if she’s not a Christian, it sends the message that
only Christians can serve on City Council because a non-Christian won’t have a
Christian prayer, it sends the message that only Christians should volunteer
for civic committees and boards, it makes Saskatoon look like an archaic
city of religious intolerance, and it forces those who object to the prayer to either
sit through the prayer against their religion, conscience, or will or leave the
room and be embarrassed in doing so.
This is absolutely disgraceful.
The Christian prayer recitation is a coercive attempt at
Christian indoctrination because it sends the message that Christians are more
valued or welcome than others while marginalizing others, it sends the message
that a citizen is second class if she’s not a Christian, it sends the message
that only Christians can serve on City Council because a non-Christian won’t
have a Christian prayer, and it sends the message that volunteers on civic
committees and boards are not treated equally if they’re not Christian. The Christian prayer recitation at a civic
event is a coercive attempt at Christian indoctrination because it sends the
message to non-Christians that they need to convert to Christianity if they
want to fit in at city events, if they want to be a first-class citizen whose
rights are respected, if they want to serve on City Council, and if they want
to volunteer for civic committees or boards.
The Quebec Human Rights Tribunal ruled against Saguenay City
Council having prayer recitations in Simoneau C. Tremblay, as can be seen at
The Ontario Court of Appeal ruled against the Penetanguishene
Town Council having prayer recitations in Freitag v. Penetanguishene (Town), as
can be seen at
The Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission ruled against Saskatoon
Public Schools having prayer recitations.
When Brent Loucks of News Talk 650 CKOM asked Don
Atchison on air on April 24, 2012 whether he’s going to stop having public
Christian prayer recitations at municipal government events in response to my
complaint, Don Atchison started talking about how this city was founded on
Christianity by a Christian priest named John Lake. You can hear this on The Brent Loucks Show starting
at 3 minutes 30 seconds of http://www.ckom.com/sites/default/files/Mayor_Atchison_Apr24.mp3. How is this relevant at all? How is it
relevant to whether there should be public Christian prayers recited at
official city events in 2012 that the city was founded by a Christian
priest? In 2012, Saskatoon is an extremely diverse city with people from
numerous religions as well as spiritual people, agnostics, and atheists.
Why would Don Atchison say this unless he’s trying to imply that Saskatoon
should be a Christian city today? Saskatoon is not a Christian city
today. It is supposed to be and is advertised as a secular multireligious
city in a secular multireligious country where all citizens are supposed to be
treated equally. Let’s have what is advertised. Saskatoon is not
advertised as an exception to the secular multireligious nature of
Canada. People moving to Saskatoon are not told that it’s a Christian
city. By talking about the Christian heritage of Saskatoon when asked if
he’s going to stop having Christian prayer recitations at municipal events, Don
Atchison is clearly implying that he thinks Saskatoon was founded as a
Christian city and therefore should still be a Christian city today. This
is extremely discriminatory and bigoted. How is this not religious
bigotry? Don Atchison should be ashamed of himself.
When Randy Donauer was questioned by Betty Ann Adam of
The StarPhoenix, he said he’s for freedom and tolerance and clearly meant that
I’m not for freedom and tolerance for saying City of Saskatoon events should
not have Christian prayer recitations. You can see this in “Christian
prayer sparks complaint” at
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/life/Christian+prayer+sparks+complaint/6496119/story.html. I am attaching a copy of this article. This means he thinks that people against him
trying to lead a diverse audience in a Christian prayer at a municipal
government event are against freedom and tolerance. Essentially he’s
saying he should have the freedom to abuse his government office to impose his
religious beliefs on others who don’t share them and give primacy to his
religion over all other religions while acting as an agent of the state.
This is extremely discriminatory and bigoted. How is this not religious
bigotry? Randy Donauer should be ashamed of himself.
What were the two of them possibly thinking to do such a
discriminatory and bigoted thing as to try to lead a multireligious audience in
a Christian prayer at a municipal government event? What kind of
mannerless bigot would try to lead Hindus, Jews, Muslims, and atheists in a
Christian prayer? Don Atchison and Randy Donauer are free to do whatever
they want with religion while they’re not acting as agents of the state, but
they’re not free to try to lead non-Christians in a Christian prayer at a
taxpayer funded municipal government event.
Don Atchison told StarPhoenix reporter Betty Ann Adam,
“I’ve never given it any thought at all.”
You can also see this in “Christian prayer sparks complaint” at
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/life/Christian+prayer+sparks+complaint/6496119/story.html. I am attaching a copy of this article. I don’t buy this nonsense that he never gave
it any thought before. They both knew there have been many complaints
about the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast. Randy Donauer helps organize this
event. I was told there was a Christian prayer recitation at the
Volunteer Appreciation Banquet in 2011 too. And if it were an innocent
mistake to have a Christian prayer recitation at the Volunteer Appreciation
Banquet, they would have immediately stopped the practice and apologized after
I complained instead of vowing to continue it and forcing me to make a complaint
against the two of them and the City of Saskatoon with the Saskatchewan Human
Rights Commission.
Justin
Trottier at the Centre for Inquiry Canada and Canadian Secular Alliance said, “Properly
understood, secularism respects and protects everybody’s religion. Thomas Jefferson said that it serves a dual
purpose: it protects government from
religion and religion from government.”
Sheetal Rawal at the
Canadian Civil Liberties Association wrote, “The state should have no role in
imposing, endorsing or promoting a particular religion over others, nor should
it pressure or coerce an individual into a religious practice.”
We
don’t live in the 1940s anymore. Don Atchison, Randy Donauer, and the
City of Saskatoon need to get with the 21st century.
I am unwilling
to compromise on public prayer recitations being totally eliminated from
official city events because this is an extremely discriminatory and bigoted
practice. A “universal” prayer discriminates against agnostics and atheists,
who are a large segment of the population.
I
am unwilling to accept a moment of silence as an alternative to a prayer recitation
because a moment of silence is also an effort by the government to get people
to pray. Therefore, it still violates
the separation of religion and government.
Government should not be in the business of encouraging or discouraging
any religious practice, even when neutral to all religions because many people
don’t practice any religion and many people believe that religions cause harm
to society. If people want to pray
before they eat, they can take their own moments of silence. There’s nothing stopping them. There shouldn’t be an officially specified
moment of silence.
Many of my
opponents claim that by fighting against prayers at civic events, I’m forcing
atheism on them. Don Atchison said,
“There could even be a dinner with no prayer at all for atheists.” This is quoted from “Christian prayer sparks
complaint” by Betty Ann Adam in The StarPhoenix and other newspapers. I am attaching a copy of this article. It can also be seen at
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/life/Christian+prayer+sparks+complaint/6496119/story.html. I'm not forcing atheism on anyone.
Secularism is separating government from religion. Atheism is not believing in religion or a
God. Secularism is not atheism. Lack of a public prayer recitation isn't
atheism. Lack of a public prayer
recitation is secularism. People are
free to pray on their own and I encourage them to do so if they want to do
that. They're not free to abuse their
government offices to try to lead people in a public Christian prayer at a
taxpayer funded municipal government event.
A Christian prayer recitation at a
civic event is analogous to going to a restaurant where there is only one menu
option and the restaurateur force feeds you with that single menu option.
Secularism is analogous to going to a restaurant and being able to eat whatever
you want. The former is suitable for some people. The latter is
suitable for all people. My opponents are fighting for some people.
I’m fighting for all people.
Let people pray to their own versions of the divine or go
ahead and dine.
My complaint has
received massive media coverage. The
blog
http://atchison-discrimination.blogspot.ca
contains lists of my media coverage as well as my emails to Don Atchison, Randy
Donauer, and the City of Saskatoon.
I previously submitted a
letter to the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission. This letter dated June 5, 2012 is from
Sheetal Rawal at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association to Don Atchison and
calls for an end to prayer recitations at Saskatoon government events. I also previously submitted my intake
questionnaire with initial arguments to the Saskatchewan Human Rights
Commission.
The Centre for Inquiry Canada
and Canadian Secular Alliance are supporting this case because they agree that
civic events must be secular. Also, the
Canadian Civil Liberties Association is supporting my position that civic
events must be secular. I am
self-represented in this case.